Mutation
Mutation is the occurrence in which a mundane creature acquires unnatural attributes to their physical, mental, or spiritual person. Few can say for certain why mutation occurs. Some suggest moral failing. Some claim it is a curse. Others suggest it is punishment for mortal sin. Regardless of the cause, mutation occurs with startling frequency, and though Witch Hunters and like-minded citizenry do everything to destroy mutants wherever they appear, their efforts are not enough to slow the tide of corruption threatening to contaminate the Old World. More than the threat of armies of black-armoured warriors tumbling out of the Chaos Wastes, or the nefarious threat of dark Cultists decaying the moral fibres of Imperial life, it is the threat of mutation that terrifies Old Worlders. It is the most personal of the threats that the Ruinous Powers pose, the erosion of the self into the seething foulness of Chaos. One can never tell who hides some strange corruption of the flesh beneath a baggy shirt or under filthy breeches. A neighbour could conceal some bizarre abomination in their cellar, and everyone listens for the horrible shrieks of a new mother spawning a twisted beast. The threat of physical contamination is ever-present, and all Old Worlders keep a watchful eye for the telltale signs of corruption. Causes of Mutation In an effort to stop or slow the spread of physical corruption, there has been some effort over the centuries to catalogue the catalysts of change. What follows is but a sample of the causes of mutation. By no means is this survey complete, for the ways of the Ruinous Powers are many and insidious. Contamination of the Womb Nothing is more tragic than seeing the product of love soured by the stain of corruption, but each year, more and more children are born tainted, twisted, and corrupted by the terrifying power of the Dark Gods. And these are not minor defects, no, these are the abominations, those creatures born inhuman, more beast than human, evil made manifest in the flesh. Among the lost children, strange maladies appear in their tender and seemingly innocent flesh. A baby might be born with the legs of a rooster or sporting a third eye in the centre of its brow. Tentacles, fur, gross size, bestial, conjoined twins tied together with the bonds of perverted flesh, and worse. Honest Old Worlders know their duty and are quick to split the heads of these creatures — even at such a young age — to smother the corruption. But, the mortal spirit is weak, sullied by temptation and misplaced affections. Misguided parents take their children to lonely places in the woods, or leave them in bowers of reeds that will take them who knows where. In cities, parents guiltily place their spawn in the sewers or set them loose in the streets of the poorest quarters. The most foolish actually attempt to hide their offspring, pretending, in their despair, that nothing is wrong with their treasured offspring. The result of these acts of mercy is quite the inverse. What life can a mutant expect to live? What right does it have to dwell under the shining beacon of Sigmar’s glory? No, instead of mercy, the well-intentioned parents merely forestall the inevitable, inviting disaster on their own heads and worsening a situation already sad. These lost children cavort with others of their kind, sampling the diseased fruits issued from the loins of the blackest of powers and preying upon the righteous and just. Still, the temptation to spare one’s own flesh is powerful. Most men and women, when confronted with their duty to eliminate tainted offspring, find they lack the mettle. Such is the influence of the Dark Gods that they can touch the hearts and minds of otherwise pious men and women. And, for each failure, the Foul Forces of the north grow in their terrible power. Warding the Womb Old Worlders have all sorts of remedies for making certain babies are born hale and healthy. Though few, if any, seem to work (some are even dangerous to the mother), the fear of spawning a Mutant overshadows just about any other concern. The most popular treatment is for the expecting mother to rub her abdomen with animal fat once per week. It’s believed this insulates the child from unwanted vapours and ensures a healthy babe. Mothers who forget or skip a week may make up for missed dosage by drinking a quart of ox blood mixed with goat milk. Other preventative measures include never standing in the light of Morrslieb since that moon casts an ill light. Or, mothers can make a pilgrimage to one of the shrines of Shallya and gain the blessing of the Priest. However, even the most vigilant mothers produce warped offspring, and in the later months of pregnancy, the women around them watch for signs and ill omens. Portents of a bad birth include the nesting of sparrow in the eaves, or a spider approaching the mother on the morning of birth. Children born during the nights when Morrslieb is full are almost all touched in some way, and so midwives do their best to slow the birthing process during the night until the next morning when the clean rays of the sun wipe away the taint. Turnskins Sometimes, a child may appear normal for the first few years of its life. But, eventually, some physical change takes place. Changes of eye colour, lengthening of the face, or even the growth of horns are the most common first signs that something has gone terribly wrong. Called Turnskins, the law demands these special Mutants be put to the flame at once, though few have the heart to condemn their sons or daughters to death, and instead take the children to the remote places to loose them into the wilderness. Invariably, these lost souls find their way into a herd of Beastmen, and, all too often, the children return to their villages to feast upon the parents who spared them. Environment The reach of the Ruinous Powers is long indeed. The touch of the Gods can twist and warp the very land as it can the mortal form. Tainted places remain as the Realm of Chaos recedes following each Incursion. Foul spells and rituals cast by Magi twist and warp the land around them. And, seemingly for no reason at all, the very wilderness betrays the natural order of things, rotting and warping to the faint laughter of the Dark Gods. Entering these profane places is dangerous even for the purest of heart, and the very air can plant the seeds of change in those who travel these regions overlong. Perhaps the most commonly corrupted places are the cities themselves. For good reason, the armies of Chaos focus their attacks on the population centres, much as they did in the Great War against Chaos, and more recently during the Storm of Chaos. Each invasion coincides with a swelling of magical energy pouring out of the maddening realms beyond the Chaos Wastes, and this fell energy changes whatever it touches. Cities also breed mutations for other reasons. For most Old World cities, the living conditions deteriorate in direct proportion to its size. No city is clean, and most, if not all, are overcrowded, packed tightly with desperate people seeking to improve their lives. The deplorable conditions in city life lend themselves to the full spectrum of Human wickedness, which, in turn, spreads despair, anger, desperation, and envy: the foundations of corruption. Dissatisfaction with this fate, and seeing the decadent nobility in their sleek carriages and fortress-homes, breeds resentment, which ultimately leads to self-loathing and bitterness. Some people turn to Cults to resolve these difficulties. Most have no idea whom these Cults serve, while others simply let their emotions fester until their bodies rebel and sprout some horrible tentacle or eyestalk. Many scholars believe the tendency for mutation in urban environments is artificially higher simply due to population density. The more people in an area, the more likely it is for the inevitable mutation to emerge. To prove this, they point to the dozens of communities throughout the Old World that spawn their own mutants, clearly suggesting that mutation is not exclusive to urban centres. As further proof of the insidious power of Chaos, one need only look to the manifestations of Chaos taint in the land itself. Travellers tell of places of warped and twisted landscapes, where the trees leak foul, ochre fluid, and the very earth moans from its corruption. Bizarre creatures abound, such as those that have been spotted in the Wasteland, or even the occasional anomaly captured by hunters — stories abound of three-eyed deer, horned rabbits, turtles that speak, and the amphisbaena. Though the wilderness and cities both lend themselves to producing mutants, such places are rare. One does not just stumble into a glade contaminated with living rot. But, among these rare sites, there are places that have been changed through human endeavour. Such places may have once served as gathering places for Cults, or might be sites where a particularly foul servant of the Ruinous Powers fell. Some might house ancient tombs, best left undisturbed lest the evil within somehow escape, while others may hide pockets of warpstone, such as the ones that contaminated the doomed city of Mordheim. These locations are thankfully unusual, and soon after one is discovered, the Witch Hunters are quick to cleanse the site of any taint. Praag Perhaps the best example of a Chaos-infected environment is the Kislevite city of Praag. Once a great city, a fortified outpost that had long stood fast against the pulses from the Chaos Wastes and depredations of the occasional marauder, it was ill-prepared for what would one day spill out from the ever-changing wasteland. In what would later be known as the Great War against Chaos, the swirling dark Eye of the Realm of Chaos opened, and black clouds of infernal energy swept down from the plains, clearing the way for the scuttling Daemons and armies of Chaos Warriors bent on destruction. The storm blew past the city, warping the stones of its walls and making Mutants of those who stayed behind. Praag was a city of the lost. This blight did not remain for long. Magnus and his armies marched to meet the invaders, pushing back the hateful horde and freeing the lands of Kislev once more. No one was prepared for what they would discover in Praag: This city was no sane place. Human flesh melded with the stones, weird fluids wept from the streets, and the dead lay stacked like cordwood. Daemons and worse crept in the gloomy alleys, and the essence of corruption was everywhere. The Kislevites, with the aid of the Imperials, cleansed the city the best they could, and rebuilt it anew on the shattered stones of the past. Their efforts were not rigorous enough, for even to this day, Praag remains a place touched by darkness and evil. Warding the Land In areas contaminated by Chaos, Witch Hunters erect a cordon to contain the spread of the taint. In a city, they typically block off an entire district whilst in the wilds, they may quarantine an entire town or stretch of forest. Using a combination of temple soldiers and militia from a community near the affected region, they purge the land by burning everything. Solemn Priests also speak invocations to the Gods to drive away the profane spirits at work. And, sometimes, the land fights back. Forbidden Lore The Priests of Sigmar teach that just as the mouth takes in food and drink to nourish the body, so too does the mind take in information to feed the spirit. If you eat a spoiled meat pie, or drink suspicious wine, you might fall ill or even die, depending on how rancid the fare. So too can the spirit sicken when foul words and thoughts are allowed to enter the mind. When too much filth is consumed, the soul sickens, jeopardizing the natural balances of the body, until the body manifests the spiritual corruption as a mutation. Whether the words of Priests are true or not, certain tomes have power, an unwholesome ability to corrupt the body, injecting the fell energies of Chaos with every turn of the page. Such volumes have brought many a curious occultist low, driving them mad or destroying the flesh. Other books may seem innocent until the ink itself is examined. A mixture of warpstone powder and urine produces a vibrant smoky ink that scorches the vellum. When handled, the residue enters the bloodstream, loosing the ravaging effects of warpstone. Such contaminations are never fast; rather, they gradually contaminate the body or mind over a period of months. Years ago, a Cult printed a catalogue of murderers, their crimes and their weapons of choice. Soon after the so called ‘penny dreadful’ went on sale, people began going mad, becoming raving spiteful berserkers, screaming and raging at anything or anyone who happened to be near. It took a few months for the Witch Hunters to track down the source of this new calamity, and once they recovered all the pamphlets, they used the copies as kindling for the pyres to burn the victims of this strange manuscript. Magic There’s good reason to fear Magisters. Each time they touch the Winds, they risk their lives. When mishandled, the Winds can wreak havoc upon the magic user, razing his mind, his body, and even his mortal soul. It is because of these risks Magnus the Pious endorsed the formation of the Colleges. It was not a reward for services rendered but a chance to bind Wizards to the Empire through vows of loyalty made to an organisation that owed its very existence to the nation in which it resides. Though the Colleges of Magic instil caution in their students, even the most careful Magister is at risk of damnation when working magic. A botched spell can bring down a magical conflagration that can range from minor problems, such as an unruly bowel, to dangerously sinister events, such a brief Daemonic possession, leaving the Magister with no recollection of what happened. Worse, such mismanaged magic can lead to corruptions of the mind and body. Many Magisters have slipped into madness just by practising their art. Though Magisters and Apprentices are subject to the corrupting influence of Chaos, the Orders have taken steps to ensure such failures are minimised, encouraging conservative use of magic rather than calling upon the Winds too often. The real risk, however, is in the renegades, the Hedge Wizards, the Witches, and the vile Warlocks. These Wizards range from the mischievous and rebellious to the diabolical, who delight in conjuring foul Daemons and using their powers for evil. And, as they dabble with Dark Magic, their mortal cost runs high. Anyone who practises magic without the sanction of the Colleges of Magic is doomed to die by pyre, or to be consumed by the powers they seek to possess. Mutation in the Colleges of Magic The Orders of Magic do their best to keep their internal problems quiet. Rumours do slip out now and then about Mutants, Daemons, and Black Magisters, all adding to the rampant fear and speculation about the Magisters and their motives. It’s believed the Magisters have their fair share of Mutants and perhaps a few more than one would expect. Parents of children who are accepted into the Colleges of Magic sometimes lose touch with their children altogether. When they inquire, the official statement is that Apprentices are taught to put their old lives behind them, severing connections when and where possible. In truth, some Apprentices just disappear, removed from their mentor’s care at the first sign of instability or corruption. Plague In many ways, one of the most common feelings experienced by Old Worlders is despair. It is sadness, misgiving, and melancholy. It is the hopelessness of one’s fate, the inability to rise above the bindings placed by circumstance of birth or fortune. And, while the unfairness of life fertilises the seeds of doubt, it is the onset of sickness that epitomises the randomness and inescapability of human suffering. Disease crosses all barriers. It breaches the mightiest defences, striking the corrupt and innocent alike. There is no protection, and no matter how a penitent prays and pleads, disease strikes down the mighty and meek alike. So, in the face of such capricious power, it is no wonder that humans succumb to the dark mutterings in their minds and search for some succour from the discomfort of their bodies rebelling against them. It is the most hopeless and desperate who turn to the cold comfort of Old Father Nurgle’s embrace. The disease itself is often enough to contain this strange and disgusting breed of mutant, as it soon dissolves the corporeal form into hacking, coughing, liquid death. But, Nurgle feeds on despair, and though he ameliorates the pain somewhat, he extends the body’s ability to contend with the contagion running rampant. The greater Nurgle’s touch, the greater the likelihood for some other warping effect, some new calamity of the flesh to appear and torment the subject until some compassionate Witch Hunter burns the flesh away and frees the soul from Chaos’ grip. Possession Possession is the assumption of the physical form by some external agency. Hedge Wizards and Shamans sometimes dabble in Necromancy, conjuring up the spirits of the dead, or worse, allowing these disembodied beings to occupy their bodies so that they can channel thoughts and wishes of the departed with their living loved ones. Such acts are always invitations to disaster. Why? There is a natural order of things: When a mortal dies, his spirit is let loose to Morr’s Realm. Spiritualists and Necromancers disrupt this order to dabble in forces best left undisturbed. While they sometimes can communicate with the dead, more often than not they deal with something far worse — a Daemon. Service to the Ruinous Powers By far, the easiest path to gaining mutations is through direct service to a Dark God. For the damned, corruptions of the flesh and mind are not curses but rewards, gifts from their Dark Masters. Cultists, Cult Magi, and Chaos Champions perform terrible deeds for these boons, and the more obscene the act, the greater the Dark God’s favour. Servants of Chaos believe each mutation is but one step on the road to glory. What may begin as a minor corruption of flesh is just the start of the glorious transformation, the realisation of a new and better form. Over time, more and more pronounced changes take place, until, one day, the servant earns the Mark of Chaos that defines the select few who are destined for greatness. Generally, Mutants do not begin as servants of the Ruinous Powers, but most eventually embrace their fates, seeking succour in the vast yawning abyss that is the Realm of Chaos. These creatures—indeed, creatures, since they cannot be considered Human any longer—follow whatever dark impulse they experience, as if receiving some instruction from afar. Those permitted to live become greater Mutants, abandoning all trace of their former Humanity, until, one day, the Dark Gods reward their servant by transforming them into Daemon Princes or casting them low, to become Chaos Spawn. Treatments A Mutant in the Empire faces a grim future, one fraught with persecution and harassment, and death by sword, fire, or, worse, losing one’s soul to the Ruinous Powers. Many new Mutants abandon their former lives to seek a new one full of adventure or blasphemous practices, but some try to resume their lives, ignoring the problem as best they can. Some afflictions are treatable, requiring a slash of a knife or a firm twist of the flesh with pliers. Though the physical presence of the mutation is gone, the corruption isn’t, and inevitably, some new affliction will appear. Racial Immunity Among the races of the World, Elves, Halflings, and the Undead appear immune to the effects of mutation. They can still be driven mad by it, or injured from close proximity to warpstone, but otherwise are never at risk of mutations caused by Chaos. Exemptions exist for the Druchii Anointed, who have given themselves to Slaanesh willingly and spent considerable time in the Chaos Wastes, as well as individual persons of these races that pledged themselves to the Chaos gods, such as Dechala and Hegakin Rokrison. The Great Eagles are also known for such an immunity. Defined Mutations A *'Acid Excretion': A foul, green, caustic liquid leaks from the pores of your skin. The ichor eats through organic and inorganic materials, so any armour or clothing you wear is automatically destroyed. Magic Items are unaffected by your corrosive excretions. *'Addiction': You gain a powerful addiction. This is usually some substance, such as alcohol or Mandrake Root. *'Additional Eye': You grow a third eye in the centre of your head. Chaos Armour changes to accommodate this mutation, but other helmets and coifs, though not skullcaps, will need modification. *'Albino': Your skin turns stark white, and your eyes turn red as leeches the pigment from your body. *'Alluring': Invisible fingers dance on your face, removing blemishes and emphasising your natural beauty. *'Animalistic Legs': Your legs undergo a startling transformation, assuming the look and feel of a deer’s hind legs. Though deer legs are common, the legs of any animal will do. The mutant can move faster as a result of these legs. *'Atrophy': One of your body parts becomes shrivelled and useless. B *'Beak': Your face twists and contorts, and the flesh around your mouth lengthens and hardens, forming a beak. *'Beast with a Thousand...': You gain a thousand somethings: a thousand arms, ears, fingers, eyes, nipples, or something else. They crop up all over your body and are impossible to conceal. These are vestigial and provide no benefit. In fact, they are disturbing. *'Bestial Appearance': Your face mutates, gaining the appearance of some sort of animal or fiend. *'Beweaponed Extremities': One of your arms becomes a twisted spur of sharp bone and hardened flesh. *'Bird's Leg': Patches of flesh on one of your legs sprout wings and flutter away like bloody butterflies on the wind. What’s left becomes hardened and scaly with crumpled flesh akin to a bird’s leg. *'Bizarre Colouration': Your skin pigment gains a brief sentience and changes colour to show that it’s people too. *'Blood Lust': You develop an uncontrollable and bloodthirsty rage. While in a frenzy, your face turns red and gains the hideous aspect of a Daemon. While in this state, you have a hard time coming out of the rage. *'Blood Substitution': After a few shuddering minutes, you realise something has changed inside you, as if your very blood were boiling. In fact, you’ve lost all the blood in your body, and the Dark Gods have seen fit to replace it with something more interesting. **''Acid'': You spray your attacker with acid. **''Centipedes, Ants, or Beetles'': You spray your attacker with centipedes, ants, or beetles. **''Electricity'': A jolt of electricity bursts from the injury. **''Excrement'': Foul excrement leaks from the injury. **''Eyeballs'': Weird, seeing orbs spill from the injury, giving you an unusual perspective about the combat. **''Fire'': A lance of fire erupts from the injury. **''Glue'': A thick, sticky paste leaks from the wound. **''Leeches, Maggots, or Worms'': You spew a torrent of leeches, maggots, or bloody worms from the injury. **''Mice'': Strange, eyeless mice wriggle free from the injury. **''Molten Metal'': Hot, molten metal spews from the wound. **''Mucous'': A thick, green fluid leaks from the damaged location. **''Mud'': A sludge of ochre mud oozes from the injury. **''Protoplasm'': A thin stream of slippery fluid drips from the wound. If you're slain, instead of exploding, your body collapses into a bag of sentient protoplasm. **''Poison'': Your blood is toxic. **''Small Birds'': Strange black birds fly from the wound. The process is extremely painful. The birds congregate around the face of your attacker, making fighting difficult. **''Tar'': Thick black tar wells from the injury. **''Vines'': Queer, whipping vines whip out from the wound. **''Vomit'': A stinking fluid explodes from the injury. **''Wax'': A greasy substance trickles from the injury, a suitable substance for making unpleasantly-scented Chaos candles. **''Wind'': Your body releases a horrid whistling noise. *'Brightly Patterned Skin': Small creatures burrow into your skin and die. Their carcasses glow in a hideous pattern of clashing colours. Colour depends on your particular master. Khorne prefers patterns in black, red, and gleaming brass; Slaanesh glories in soft pastels; Nurgle marks his Mutants with disgusting combinations of diseased and livid tones; and Tzeentch favours no particular colour. *'Burning Body': Much to your dismay, tongues of fire erupt from your body, turning you into a pillar of living flame. The fire does not harm you, though it automatically destroys any mundane equipment you carry. It sheds light equal to a campfire. C *'Centauroid': What at first seems like bowel distress rapidly worsens, causing the entirety of your guts and legs to warp and twist, the flesh coming free and reforming into something else. When you can bring yourself to look, you discover that your legs have been replaced by the trunk and legs of some other creature. Although your new form may come from an ordinarily, small creature, the mutation works as if the creature were the size of a horse. *'Chaos Organ': A cancerous cyst grows inside of you. Empowered by Chaos, it wants to preserve its host, so it doesn’t kill you… right away. Each time you gain this mutation, increase your toughness and health. Unfortunately, the bulge created by the cyst is disgusting and stinks. Worse, it emits guttural rumbling noises at the least opportune moments. Reduce your trust whenever you gain this mutation—the thing inside you grows just a little larger and a little louder each time. If you are slain, the Chaos Organ tears free from your diseased carcass, sprouts limbs, and waddles around spraying fluids everywhere. Eerily, it looks just like a miniature version of you. If the thing is not killed, it grows over the next few months into your duplicate. Its body counts as one mutation. *'Chaos Spawn': The Ruinous Powers cast you down, transforming you into a Chaos Spawn. You cease to be a thinking being, becoming little more than a ravenous beast. *'Chaos Were': You instantly revert to your normal form as if you had no mutations. Without enough willpower, you instantly revert back to your Mutant form. *'Claws': Your hands twist and warp, transforming your fingers into hideous claws. *'Cloud of Flies': A cloud of vile horseflies find in you the perfect friend and hover about you, crawling in your nose and mouth to nuzzle in the moisture of your body. When you’re threatened, they grow angry and swarm about your head. Opponents using melee weapons against have difficulty as the flies crawl into their noses, mouths, and eyes. Should a fly be examined, one will observe it has tiny, human hands and a human head, and it weeps miserably at its separation from the rest of the swarm. Particularly foul Mutants attract swarms of flying beetles, cockroaches, or even termites!! *'Cloven Hooves': Your feet rapidly transform into hideous malformed stubs that harden into cloven hooves. *'Corrosive Vomit': Your stomach houses a particularly toxic soup of corrosive fluid, much like that of a Troll’s. *'Cowardice': You are overwhelmed by a crippling fear of everything, making you a shuddering mess. *'Crossbreed': Your body warps horribly, becoming a hybrid of what you were with the unwanted addition of something else. The extent of the change varies from Mutant to Mutant. **''Mutant Dominant'': Your pre-existing form is dominant, but you gain some of the features associated with the creature. For instance, a Mutant-eagle crossbreed might retain his Human head, albeit one that is beaked. Alternatively, a Mutant-Orc retains its general form but may have green skin. **''Compromise'': You develop a foul appearance, fully mixing your former form and that of the new. For instance, a Mutant-Giant Spider might have a set of mandibles on a furry head but retain his “normal” eyes and nose. **''Creature Dominant'': The creature’s form is dominant, and you lose most of your features. A Mutant-Horse hybrid would gain the head and limbs of a horse, though he’d retain his hands and remain a biped. However, the change is horrid and mind-destroying. *'Crown of Flesh': You develop a ring of fleshy protrusions around your head. These protrusions are between one and ten, and can be ears, fingers, noses, tongues, eyes, toes, thumbs, boils, tiny arms, or tentacles. *'Crystalline Body': Your flesh, blood, bones, and sinew transform into a single body of living crystal. Though this new form is tough, it’s very fragile. If a mercenary companion thinks to cut off some of your unnecessary crystalline extremities, the mineral rots away into a puddle of dung after one to ten minutes. *'Cyclops': Your face warps into an unrecognisable mass of writhing tissue. After a few moments, it restores itself to almost its former state. Unfortunately, one of your eyes saw the churning flesh as its opportunity to escape, promptly grew wings, and flew away. Now, you have but one eye in the centre of your face, just above your nose. D *'Detachable Limbs': How you discovered this mutation is best left unsaid. In short, you can now pull your body apart, tearing off your arm or leg, and still live without fear of bleeding to death. But, once separated, you cannot reattach the missing part, and must resort to other, perhaps mechanical, methods to keep yourself together. Fortunately, severed limbs and extremities continue moving as if they were attached. *'Dimensional Instability': You lose your connection to the physical world, becoming a creature of the Realm of Chaos. Like Daemons and their ilk, you can be forced out of the physical world to the plane of Daemons. *'Dripping': Your skin leaks a foul, stinking, yellow fluid. You leave a trail of the stuff wherever you go. The smell attracts flies that lay their eggs in the morass. *'Duplication': A new body tears free from yours, taking with it one-half of your health. It is otherwise identical to you in all ways. From this point forward, the double is his own person. E *'Elastic Limbs': Your arms are ropey and elastic. Armour retains its shape and so does not offer protection when you extend your arms. If you have Chaos Armour, it moulds to the flesh and maintains its protective qualities. *'Electrical Touch': Raw electricity sparks from your skin. *'Emaciated Appearance': The next time you visit the jakes, all of the fat in your body goes out with the rest of the leavings in one stinking stream of pale-yellow and chunky fluid. When you finish, you find you’re thin, bordering on cadaverous. *'Enormous Head': Your head expands, growing three times its normal size. You can no longer wear normal headgear. Helmets, hats, skullcaps, and the like, must be specially made, costing three times the listed price. *'Evil Eye': One of your eyes turns black with pure, concentrated evil. You can level your gaze on any living creature within 8 yards. Without sufficient willpower, the target of your gaze has lessened characteristics in a variety of areas. This penalty remains for as long as you live. Once you’ve affected a target with your Evil Eye, it cannot be affected again by your Evil Eye mutation. *'Extra Joints': You gain an extra set of knees or elbows or both. *'Extra Fingers or Toes': A number of extra digits appear on your hands or feet. *'Extra Mouth': What begins as a small scratch on your face eventually widens into an extra drooling maw. It can eat, but it doesn’t nourish you since the material it ingests goes somewhere other than your gullet. You can speak with this mouth as well. There are many stories of Mutants who develop mouths in strange places, from the armpit to the groin to the palm of a hand. There are no limits to Chaos’ strangeness. *'Extra Ear': A small nubbin erupts on your face, growing slowly until it takes the form of a Human ear. Ears can literally sprout all over the body, not just the face. *'Extra Limb': Since you’re such a good master of the ones you already have, your body attracts extra limbs. An extra limb is more of a hassle than it is a boon, as it always seems to get in the way. *'Extra Nose': You grow a new nose somewhere on your head. You can smell with this nose nearly as well as you can with your first nose. Though most extra noses appear on the head, a few unlucky Mutants develop them in unfortunate places, allowing them to sample their body odours in particularly unpleasant ways. *'Eyestalks': One of your eyes extends from the socket on a stalk. F *'Fangs': Your incisors lengthen and sharpen. You can use them to make attacks. Instead of long sharp teeth, you might gain tusks, a second row of teeth, or a single, hornlike tooth that juts out from your bottom jaw. *'Fast': You develop uncanny speed. *'Fear of Blood': This terrible curse spells the end of most Mutants. Depending on the cruelty and whim of the Ruinous Powers, some Mutants develop more or less crippling fears, including urine, sewage, water, tar, and other liquids. *'Feathered Hide': What begins as a strange rash that covers your entire body, soon worsens until feathers sprout from your bumpy flesh. Worse, the skin between your arms and sides hangs loose, forming a membrane, though for what purpose, no one knows. *'Featureless Face': While you were sleeping, your nose, eyes, and mouth left, followed soon after by all your facial hair. Any moles, warts, and scars felt lonely, so they left, too. When you awake, you discover you are now featureless. Though you lose your eyes, nose, and mouth, your senses are not impaired in any way, and you no longer need to take in food or drink to survive, though the pangs of hunger are forever-after a constant scourge. *'Fits': When confronted with the awful, your mind snaps, and you suffer terrible, mental seizures. *'Flaming Skull Face': The flesh of your face sloughs away leaving a naked skull. Moments later, the bone erupts in hellish flames. You can attack with your flaming head. *'Foetid Touch': Your hands are always greasy with sweat and grime. Nothing you do keeps them clean. Your touch spreads The Galloping Trots, but only if your hands come into contact with food. *'Foul Stench': Your body produces a terrible odour, smelling of dirty feet, rancid ham, and vomit. There’s no reason why Foul Stench has to consist exclusively of the rare blend of dirty feet, rancid ham, and vomit. Sour milk is also an excellent choice, as is Human excrement blended with rotting potatoes. *'Froglike Eyes': Your bloodshot eyes bulge from their sockets, causing you to resemble a frog, more or less. *'Fur': You grow a thin coat of fur, equivalent to a shorthaired cat. Though you’re uncomfortable wearing clothes, the fur has no additional effect, though you do have a tendency to purr. G *'Grossly Fat': A thick layer of fat forms under your skin. It may be uniform or it may cause unsightly and strange bulges. *'Growth': You grow much larger. It is an unpleasant experience. Each time you gain this mutation, you get bigger. H *'Head Crest': A strange bony growth breaks through the skin of your head, forming a new and embarrassing Head Crest. Not all Head Crests need be bony. Some could be feathered, wattled, or even reptilian. *'Headless': Your body sucks its head into itself. After a few disorientating moments, your face pushes out through your chest. *'Hideous Appearance': Your appearance changes into something abominable, something so terrifying that to look upon your visage inspires madness, even in yourself! *'Hopper': Each leg develops a brief but strange sentience, engaging in a contest of wills. The victor drains away all the nourishment from the other, causing its hated rival to wither and die, while it grows strong and powerful. Once the other leg dies, your remaining leg is your sole means of propulsion. *'Horns': Horns grow out from your forehead. The horns may be smooth, twisted, or notched. Oftentimes, they also feature symbols of Chaos, foul words in Dark Speech, or insults targeting people the Mutant meets. *'Host of Maggots': Maggots infest your body, hiding in the crevices of your brain, splashing in the fluids of your stomach, and rattling in your lungs. These little friends tend to show up at the least opportune time, dropping in your (or others’) food, slipping from a cuff when you shake hands, or falling from the nostril when trying to impress an attractive lady. Other infestations can also be entertaining. Scabies, worms, and other vermin promise hours of amusement. *'Hulking Brute': You descend into a primitive form, becoming something akin to an Orc, sort of. You walk with a stooped gait. Your arms lengthen, causing your hands to drag on the ground behind you. A bone ridge forms over your eyes and your forehead slopes back. *'Hunchback': A grotesque hump grows on your back, forcing you to stoop and hobble about. Chaos Armour, naturally, conforms to unusual body types, allowing you to wear it as normal. *'Hypnotic Gaze': One of your eyes turns completely white. You can level your gaze on any living creature within 8 yards. The target of your gaze must have enough willpower, or he can’t take any actions so long as you maintain your gaze. I *'Illusion of Normalcy': A powerful magic conceals all evidence of your mutations. *'Inside Out': Jealous of your skin, your guts conspire to break free from your body. In a long and painful process, your body turns itself inside out so that you wear your organs on the outside. *'Intelligent Cyst': A horrid cyst grows inside of you. Unlike Chaos Organs, this growth is intelligent. The cyst has its own motives and goals, and it tries to take control of you from time to time. While the cyst is in control, you have no sense of what’s happening to your body, though the effects are sometimes later clear. Should you be slain, the Intelligent Cyst explodes from your body, sprouts limbs and waddles around as a new Chaos Spawn. *'Invisibility': Your body is very nearly transparent, and, at times, you seem to be smoky and insubstantial. *'Iron Hard Skin': Small metallic growths break through your skin, forming a hard shell of metal scales. *'Irrational Fear': You develop an irrational fear of a creature, location, or some other experience. *'Irrational Hatred': You develop an unreasoning hatred of something. L *'Large Ears': Your ears triple in size. *'Leathery Skin': Your skin thickens, becoming hard and leathery. *'Levitation': Much to your surprise, you can now hover above the ground at will. *'Limb Loss': One of your limb or appendages falls off and dissolves into a pile of wriggling maggots. *'Limb Transference': A random body part picks up and moves to another part of your body. *'Long Legs': In spurts, your legs extend far from your body as if they were trying to escape. After a few moments they stop growing but are not long and spindly. At first walking was a chore, but you’ve grown accustomed to them and can now take large strides. *'Long Neck': As your neck extends in a curious way, the tendons and veins under the skin bulge, becoming ropey. While this does improve your perspective on things, your long neck is an inviting target. Fully 10% of Mutants saddled with this unusual mutation do not develop the neck structure to support this long neck and must walk around with their head between their knees. If they want to look around, they have to pull their head up by their hair. Some Mutants actually drag their faces on the ground behind them! *'Long Nose': Your nose grows such that it looks like a long warty, carrot (or some other appropriate object). *'Long Spines': Sharp spines grow out of your flesh, just like a porcupine. About 10% of Mutants with this mutation develop poisonous spines instead. The Mutant, obviously, is immune to his own poison. M *'Madness': You get a little stranger in the head (he sometimes speaks to you). *'Magic Immune': You have long believed, in the secret places in your brain, that you were invulnerable, but your inability to be affected by spells clinches it. You cannot be the target of any Petty Magic, Lesser Magic, or Arcane Lore spell, though spells from other sources and rituals affect you normally. If you follow Tzeentch, the Changer of Ways, you cannot gain this mutation. Instead, you become a Chaos Spawn. *'Magic Resistant': Somehow, you’ve gotten it in your head that magic doesn’t work so well against you, heightening willpower against all magic. If you follow Tzeentch, the Changer of Ways, you cannot gain this mutation. Instead, you become a Chaos Spawn. *'Malign Sorcerer': The Ruinous Powers have seen fit to reward you with some ability to cast spells. If you follow Khorne and gain this mutation, the Blood God believes you have betrayed him. In one to three days, he sends a pack of Flesh Hounds to shred your body into pieces and recover your soul to bring back to the Realm of Chaos. There, after centuries of torment, Khorne plans to crush you between his blackened, blood-clotted teeth. *'Mane of Hair': You grow a huge mane of hair, much like you’d find on a horse or lion. You may no longer wear a helmet unless it is part of a suit of Chaos Armour. *'Manic Fighter': You have temper problems, which are exacerbated by the fact that you perceive anyone you henceforth meet as an enemy. *'Manikin': Life becomes a bit strange when your facial features (except your mouth) atrophy and fall off your face after a few painful and terrifying moments. Once the last vestige of your face rots away, a horrid little body sprouts out of your forehead. It’s perfect in almost every detail, having two arms, a head, and a face (a twisted mockery of what you just left on the ground). The manikin does all the talking for you (you may play the manikin normally, but it’s a coarse, vulgar little thing), leaving you to sustain it by eating as often and as much as you can. If the Manikin is killed, you are too. *'Massive Intellect': You gain incredible mental clarity and acuity. *'Mechanoid': Small Daemonic imps come from nowhere and rip chunks of your flesh from your body and replace them with mechanical ones. The replacement parts are a mechanized copy of your old biological body. You become some sort of technological horror. Your new method of propulsion is loud and grating, regardless of the type. *'Mer-creature': A scaly fishlike tail replaces your legs (or rear legs). In addition, you also gain gills as well as lungs, allowing you to breathe underwater. When in water, you do not have slower movement. However, on land, you must drag yourself along the ground at a very slow pace. Some Mer-creature Mutants (10%) actually gain the head and upper body of a fish and retain their original legs. In these situations, the Mutant can swim and walk on land with equal proficiency, though he loses his lungs and can only survive out of the water for a limited amount of time before beginning to suffocate. *'Metal Body': Your body transforms into an incredible fusion of gold, steel, or silver. In addition, you are no longer affected by attacks or effects involving fire or cold, but you take twice the number of wounds from electricity-based attacks. Particularly mercenary comrades might take advantage of your new form, hacking off parts of your body for money. Gold or silver Mutants are in fact worth a great deal. Any metal extracted from the Mutant is contaminated, and counts as Warpstone for the purposes of causing mutations. *'Metallic Skin': Your skin assumes a metallic sheen. *'Midnight Skin': Your skin darkens until it becomes completely and unremittingly black, seeming to absorb light. Your eyes turn milk white, losing your pupils and irises. *'Mindless': Your brain is replaced by a block of Warpstone, disallowing any coherent thought or independent action on your part. *'Moronic': Your brain shrinks to one quarter of its normal size and weight. Though many Old Worlders seem to suggest otherwise, this mutation is not as widespread as it appears. *'Multiple Arms': A number of new arms sprout from your sides. These look like normal arms for a member of your original race. *'Multiple Heads': One or more heads grow from your shoulders. Any mutations already affecting your primary head do not affect any new heads, though any other mutations gained affect all heads equally. The extra head need not sprout from the shoulder. It could grow out of the top of the Mutant’s head, on either side, on both sides of its face, or on some other part of the body. In rare cases (1%), this extra head develops its own personality and motives. *'Multiplication': You are legion. You can separate yourself into one to ten smaller duplicates. Each duplicate acts independently. Eventually, you forcibly recombine and are stunned as you adjust to the sudden perspective change. When you do reassemble, you return to the same state you were in before you multiplied, unless all of your duplicates were slain. O *'Overgrown Body Part': One of your body parts becomes huge and overgrown. P *'Piercing Tongue': Your tongue transforms into a long, sinuous, sharp monstrosity. *'Pin Head': Your head reduces to a fraction of its normal size. As a result, your brain shrinks and intelligence decreases. *'Pincer Hand': Your hand painfully splits down the centre and transforms into something like a crab claw. *'Plague Bearer': You carry a particularly loathsome disease. If you follow Nurgle, you automatically gain Neiglish Rot. Otherwise, you carry either the Shakes, Eye Rot, Creeping Buboes, Bone Ague, Grey Fever, or Green Pox. *'Pointed Head': In a failed effort to escape your skull, the brain pushes against the skull until your head rises up to a sharp point. *'Poisonous Bite': Your incisors sharpen and become hollow. Strange, pulsing glands grow under the flesh of the roof of your mouth. You can attack with these new fangs. If you deal damage, you also inject a powerful toxin in your victim’s blood. *'Polyps': Weird, discoloured bumps spread all over your body. While they do not hurt, they have a tendency to pop and leak a yellow discharge. 10% of Mutants suffer from a far worse variation of this affliction. The polyps don’t burst, but instead house tiny Nurglings. *'Powerful Legs': Ropes of new muscle grow in your legs, causing them to swell and bulge in unseemly ways. You gain the ability to make incredible leaps. *'Prehensile Tail': A long, prehensile tail grows from the base of your spine. You can use this tail as a third arm, enabling you to carry things, wield weapons and so on. *'Pseudo-Daemonhood': With a terrible shudder, your body undergoes a terrible transformation. Your bones pop and crack, reforming beneath your skin. Two, bat-like wings tear free from your back, and grotesque horns split your brow, growing with sudden and painful speed. Meanwhile, horrid purple veins form in your arms and legs, creating throbbing bulges. Your skin assumes a reddish hue, and your hair darkens to black. In a burst, your eyes are consumed by flame, burning out of the front of your face. What’s left of your Humanity has been stripped away, leaving you a shuddering hulk of pure Chaos—or so it is easy to believe. In truth, though you resemble a Daemon, but you are as mortal as you ever were. *'Puny': Your skeleton shrivels by one quarter of its original size, leaving the excess meat to hang from your reduced bones. Q *'Quadruped/Biped': If you’re a biped, two of your arms or tentacles (and only two, if you have more, the rest are unaffected) become legs. If you’re a quadruped, two of your legs turn into arms. R *'Radiant Skin': You glow with a strange, purple light. Each time you gain this mutation, you shine a little brighter, with a range from that of a candle to that of a campfire. The colour can range from the purple light to white or even hellish red, and anything in between. *'Rash': A strange rash of ugly, red bumps with glossy, white heads covers a portion of your body. *'Rearranged Face': All of your features shuffle about, moving to a new and surprising location on your face. *'Regeneration': You heal very quickly. You cannot use this ability if you are dead. *'Resilient': You are infused with unholy constitution and vitality, increasing toughness. *'Rotting Flesh': What begins as a number of painful sores swiftly spreads and purples your flesh. In a matter of minutes, the wounds suppurate and rot, issuing the stink of death. Every now and then, rancid meat sloughs from your body, exposing newly rotting areas beneath. The soft, wet flesh draws swarms of flies. *'Running Sores': Weeping sores cover your body. S *'Scaly Skin': A mesh of fine scales sprouts all over your body. *'Scorpion Tail': A sinister-looking tail sprouts from your back. It is covered in black, brown, and orange plates, and ends with a hooked stinger. *'Sensory Loss': The Ruinous Powers test your loyalty by removing one of your five senses and the organs that govern them. Most results are quite obvious, but if you lose your sense of touch, you lose all of the skin covering your body, leaving you a weeping, bloody wretch, and a true horror to behold. *'Short Legs': Each time you gain this mutation, your legs shorten. *'Shrink': Your body shrinks. If you shrink too much, you implode, leaving a small wet mark where you once stood. *'Skeleton': Your skin and muscle rebel and tear free from your frame. After an awkward moment, the flesh runs away in a random direction. You are now a bloody skeleton containing a sack of wet organs. *'Skull Face': The flesh from your face (or faces) liquefies and slides away, leaving behind a bare white skull. *'Snout': Your nose twists and transforms into a piggish snout. Wet and snuffling, it has a keen sense of smell. *'Soul Destruction': Your soul and personality are destroyed, devoured by Chaos. A wandering spirit of a dead mortal seizes the opportunity to climb inside your body and takes control. The new personality might have lived during the time of the Great War against Chaos or even during the life of Sigmar. *'Spiked Tail': You are surprised to discover you have somehow grown a thick reptilian tail that ends in a knobbly spiked ball. *'Spit Acid': You grow special glands in your mouth that produce sticky globules of flesh-eating acid. You may spit a blob of the stuff at an opponent up to 10 yards away. *'Spores': Small puffballs grow on your skin. Whenever you move, small plumes of dust burst from the growths. If you are hit in melee combat, your body produces a cloud of choking spores. *'Strange Voice': Your voice changes to become belching, growling, hoarse, honking, lilting, shrill, shrieking, ululating, whining or whispery. *'Strange Walk': You develop a strange walk. This may be because of odd leg movements, gyrations, or a need to spin with every other step, but it seems bizarre, if not a bit silly. *'Strong': You are strong with the power of Chaos. It fills you, infuses you, making you powerful. Your muscle mass doubles, forcing the skin to stretch and even split to accommodate your sudden new bulk. *'Suckers': Small, quivering suckers appear all over your body. T *'Tail': A slender tail grows from the base of your spine helping you maintain your balance. The tail gained may be hairless, fur-covered, scaly, or even made of bone. *'Telekinesis': You gain the ability to move things with your mind. *'Telepathy': Your mind is open to the thoughts of others. You can transmit a message or read surface thoughts. *'Teleport': The boundaries between realities are thin for you, and you can cross distances with a thought. If this results in materializing in a solid object, you are killed instantly. Worse, each time you use this mutation, you have a 1% cumulative chance of attracting the attention of a Daemonic entity. Should this occur, you never materialize as your body is whisked away through the Realm of Chaos to become the plaything of Daemons. *'Temporal Instability': You are only loosely in this world’s time stream. You vanish and reappear. Ordinarily, you spend about two and half hours of every day slipping into and out of the time stream. This is extremely disconcerting. For the most part, you have adapted to the oddness of your existence, but the mutation is most frustrating in situations where your presence is perhaps most needed, such as in combat. While in the time stream, you can take no action and float along helplessly. Each month, you have a cumulative 1% chance of attracting the attention of a Daemonic entity. Should this occur, you never reappear as your body is whisked away into the Realm of Chaos to become the plaything of Daemons. *'Tentacle-like Arm': One of your arms withers away, replaced by a horrible tentacle covered in fine suckers. The tentacle can grasp weapons normally, but it is not capable of fine manipulation. *'Tentacle Fingers': Your fingers wither away only to be replaced by horrible tentacles. While you are not affected for most things, the tentacles interfere with fine manipulation. *'Thick Fur': A dense fur grows all over your body. Most fur is brown or black, but there are instances of white, green, blue, red, and even patterned furs. About 25% of all instances of this mutation result in isolated patches of fur. *'Thorns': Small, sharp thorns break through your flesh. Strangely, through some sort of odd development of muscle, you can launch a thorn from your body against an opponent up to 10 yards away. About 10% of Mutants with this mutation develop poisonous thorns instead. The Mutant, obviously, is immune to his own poison. *'Trails of Slime': Your body undergoes a horrid transformation, turning into a vile, slug-like being. Henceforth, you ooze along the ground, leaving a horrid trail of stinking slime in your wake. *'Trance': When confronted with a tough situation, you slip into a weird trance. *'Transparent Skin': Your skin becomes transparent, revealing your bones and the organs underneath. While disgusting, it has no additional effect. *'Trunk': A long prehensile trunk grows from your face. You can use this appendage as a third arm. *'Turnskin': Your true nature is revealed; you transform into a Beastman. U *'Unbelievable Tumour': A tumour of unspeakable size grows somewhere on your body in a matter of just days. When it stops, it weighs ten to one hundred pounds. *'Uncanny Resemblance': In an uncanny twist of fate, your facial features transform to resemble an important person. *'Uncontrollable Flatulence': You suffer from awful stomach distress, which manifests whenever you are threatened. When attacked or subject to fear or terror, one of your orifices trembles and involuntarily releases a vile cloud of gas. **''Poison'': Everyone breathing the horrid vapours is poisoned unless they are tough enough to resist. **''Paralysing'': Breathing this foul mist requires all to become paralysed for some time. **''Oily Mist'': Your orifice creates a cloud of thick stinking mist, making sight-based skills difficult. **''Noxious'': The stench is so overpowering that everyone breathing in the fumes is physically weakened. **''Stench of Madness'': The powerful odour inspires fear and madness in those who sample its pungent stench. All characters that breathe in the vapours are affected as if they had eaten mad cap mushrooms. *'Unnatural Appetite': Why choose from all the different creepy crawly things to eat in the Old World when you could just have one! Thanks to a moment of clarity inspired by your foul masters, you now take sustenance from one thing, and one thing only. *'Upside-Down': Your arms and legs switch places. V *'Vampire': You must drink fresh blood to survive—several pints, in fact. Though you suffer from the hunger experienced by true Vampires, you derive none of the benefits or other aspects of the Vampire’s Curse. Thus, without fangs, you must rely on more creative methods of acquiring blood. *'Vestigial/Parasitic Twin': You become two separate identities fused into one mass of flesh and bone. Like conjoined twins, you and your other half may be joined in many ways. *'Vile': You are repellent. You unconsciously act in ways that repels others, doing exactly the right thing to make them hate you. W *'Walking Head': Your body atrophies and withers away to nothing. Conversely, your head expands, almost as if it is devouring your body and growing stronger for it. Your internal organs race into the expanded head space, while your limbs shift position, attaching themselves to your vestigial neck. *'Warp Frenzy': You are dangerously unstable. When you take damage or are are vulnerable to terror or fear, you immediately enter an uncontrollable Frenzy. Further, your body changes wildly, gaining many random mutations, which vanish when the Frenzy ends. Mutations gained in this way do not count towards becoming a Chaos Spawn. While in the Frenzy state, you have a hard time coming out of it. *'Warped Mind': You have a twisted mind. You find it hard to concentrate upon mundane matters. *'Warty Skin': Every inch of your body is covered in large, quivering warts. While undeniably disgusting, there is a benefit to these fleshy growths. *'Weapon Master': You gain a deeper understanding of killing. *'Were': You can change your form into a beast-Human hybrid (usually a wolf or bear). *'Wings': You grow a pair of leathery wings, which may or may not allow you powers of flight. Some Mutants grow other kinds of wings. Possibilities include feathered, insect, or butterfly wings. Z *'Zoological Mutation': One or more parts of your body change into the corresponding parts of some animal. Gallery Mutation 1.png|Mutated Eye mutant 2.png|Mutant with a thousand eyes mutant 3.png|Mutant manikin mutant 4.png|Zoological mutation Thorn mutation.png|Thorn mutation Mutant persecution.png|Mutant persecution Source * : Warhammer Fantasy RPG 2nd ED -- Tome of Corruption ** : pg. 14 ** : pg. 15 ** : pg. 16 ** : pg. 17 ** : pg. 18 ** : pg. 19 ** : pg. 20 ** : pg. 23 ** : pg. 26 ** : pg. 27 ** : pg. 30 ** : pg. 31 ** : pg. 32 ** : pg. 33 ** : pg. 34 ** : pg. 35 ** : pg. 36 ** : pg. 37 ** : pg. 38 ** : pg. 39 ** : pg. 40 ** : pg. 41 ** : pg. 42 ** : pg. 43 ** : pg. 44 ** : pg. 45 ** : pg. 46 ** : pg. 47 ** : pg. 49 ** : pg. 50 ** : pg. 51 ** : pg. 52 ** : pg. 53 ** : pg. 54 ** : pg. 55 ** : pg. 56 ** : pg. 59 ** : pg. 60 Category:M Category:Chaos